The World Health Organization declared a global public health emergency on Sunday following a growing Ebola outbreak in central Africa involving the rare Bundibugyo virus strain.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced that the outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda now qualifies as a public health emergency of international concern.
The declaration followed reports of more than 300 suspected infections and approximately 88 deaths connected to the outbreak.
“There are significant uncertainties to the true number of infected persons and geographic spread associated with this event at the present time,” Tedros said in an official statement.
WHO officials said the outbreak does not currently meet the criteria for classification as a pandemic because Ebola spreads differently from airborne respiratory viruses.
Instead of recommending border closures, WHO urged governments to coordinate international containment measures, including surveillance, contact tracing, infection control and cross-border screening.
According to health officials, the outbreak is centered primarily in Ituri Province in eastern Congo near the Ugandan border.
As of May 16, authorities reported eight laboratory-confirmed cases, 246 suspected cases and 80 suspected deaths linked mainly to the outbreak zone in Congo.
Officials said nearly all known infections have occurred inside Congo, though two additional cases were identified in Uganda involving travelers arriving from the affected region.
One infected traveler later died at a hospital in Kampala, Uganda’s capital city.
Health authorities also confirmed one Ebola case in Kinshasa, the Congolese capital located roughly 1,000 kilometers from the main outbreak area.
Officials linked the Kinshasa infection to travel from the Ituri outbreak zone.
Suspected cases have additionally appeared in North Kivu province, raising fears the virus could spread into more densely populated regions.
The first suspected Ebola patient in the current outbreak was reportedly a 59-year-old man who developed symptoms April 24 and died three days later in Ituri Province.
Health authorities did not formally identify the outbreak until early May after reports began circulating on social media, by which point roughly 50 deaths had already occurred, per Trending Politics.
Laboratory confirmation of the Ebola outbreak came May 15 after testing identified the Bundibugyo strain of the virus.
The Bundibugyo variant is considered one of the rarer forms of Ebola and currently has no approved vaccine or proven therapeutic treatment.
“This outbreak started in April. So far, we don’t know the index case,” Jean Kaseya said during remarks to reporters Saturday.
“It means we don’t know how far is the magnitude of this outbreak,” Kaseya added.
Health officials warned several factors could complicate containment efforts, including armed conflict in eastern Congo, large-scale population movement and cross-border travel throughout the Lake Albert and Great Lakes regions.
The current outbreak marks the third recorded detection of the Bundibugyo Ebola strain and the largest outbreak involving that variant to date.
Congo has experienced more than 20 Ebola outbreaks historically and remains one of the countries most heavily affected by the virus.
Ebola spreads through direct contact with bodily fluids from infected individuals and can cause severe hemorrhagic illness with high fatality rates.
